Illinois, in partnership with the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, is transforming its teacher preparation and training sequence into a strong teacher development system that will result in improved teacher recruitment, preparation, induction, certification, professional development, and retirement. This paper outlines the…

Discusses the difficulty of reflection in teaching given the norms of the profession and the context of the work. The article describes research on ways teachers adapt and tailor lessons to changing circumstances and class populations, and reports on teachers' reflective practices. (GLR)

Portfolios represent the intersection of assessment and instruction, and they provide a framework for viewing evaluation as complex, multidimensional, and dynamic. This article describes the system of portfolio assessment adopted by the Department of Early Childhood and Family Studies at Kean College of New Jersey, which is based primarily on…

Studies have found that the more familiar student teachers are with competency-based assessment measures and the more exposure they have to self-assessment and assessment by supervising teachers and professors, the more competent they will be in class. Programs that involve videotaping student teachers have been found to be effective assessment…

Self-evaluation is becoming an essential component of both formative and summative teacher evaluation systems. This paper defines self-evaluation as the process of judging one's own performance for purposes of self-improvement. Teachers use both formal and informal methods to assess their students' classroom performance; however, when they attend…

A model for preservice and inservice teacher self-assessment, which fosters improved performance, is divided into two phases. Phase 1 begins at the preservice level, and phase 2 is carried out during the time the teacher is under contract in a school setting. During phase 1, the teacher candidate explores the answers to three questions in…

In 1979, Act 187, known now as the Educator Improvement Act, was mandated by the legislature of the State of South Carolina. One tenet of Act 187 was the establishment of an Educator Improvement Task Force to develop an instrument which could effectively measure minimal teaching competencies. To help in the content and design of the instrument,…

An overview is presented of a third-party evaluation of the North Carolina Career Development Plan, at the end of the third year of a four-year pilot program. Under scrutiny were the Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument (TPAI) and the Principal Performance Appraisal Instrument (PPAI), as well as the appeals process for those delayed for…

This paper presents summaries of selected articles and research reports that address the role of the principal in areas of instructional leadership, teacher evaluation, and student achievement. Research concludes that the single most important factor in determining the success of a school is the ability of the principal to coordinate, organize,…

A training model to prepare practicing teachers in rural areas as special educators is described. Developed at Kansas State University, the model employs a multi-modal approach which combines a variety of long-distance teaching methods with traditional on-campus summer course work. The model incorporates the use of an interactive audio…

This report summarizes the results of two educational policy studies: (1) an analysis of current problems in teacher competency testing; and (2) an exploration of educational testing and evaluation research and development needs. In the first study, information on teacher competency testing was gathered from a literature review and meetings with…

This document presents the four case studies that constituted the major sources for "Teacher Evaluation: A Study of Effective Practices" by the same authors. The study was undertaken to find teacher evaluation processes that produce information useful to school districts in helping teachers improve or in making personnel decisions. The…

Teacher education reform legislation in Mississippi was put into effect in 1985, concurrent with the planning year of this project which developed a prototype for automated evaluation of teachers' performance. This automated system of information management was designed in response to requests for demographic program information from governing…

The goals, processes, and objectives of teacher evaluation are examined. Evaluation is defined as a planning and decision-making tool, and such evaluation activities as observing, holding conferences, supervising, and writing reports are discussed. An analysis of the tasks involved in teaching is provided so that evaluators will have specific ways…

To help school administrators, an introduction and 12 chapters analyze employee morale and motivation and provide both experts' and practitioners' suggestions on how to improve them. The information was gathered from a national questionnaire survey of over 300 educational leaders, school visits, telephone interviews, correspondence, and a…